gulls and ring billed gulls, with some greater black back gulls and the occasional bonaparte

+

gull."

+

+

(4) Differences between MA and AK pick-ups?

+

+

"Other than different people at different locations at different times, no difference at all.

+

The swabs, VTM, methods, etc are all the same."

Current revision

Each of you will isolate DNA from a bird stool sample. You will not prepare the same sample as your partner, so please read the table below carefully.

T/R Lab

Team color

Name

Sample #

Name

Sample #

AK or MA?

Red

Arturo

716

Nick

702

MA

Orange

Daphne

712

Stas

709

MA

Yellow

Dominique

739

Ebaa

664

AK

Green

Nikki

732

Jesse

405

AK

Blue

Justin

716

Noa

702

MA

Pink

Marisol

712

Tiffany

709

MA

Purple

Sarah

739

Mitali

664

AK

Grey/Platinum

Emily

732

Katie

405

AK

W/F Lab

Team color

Name

Sample #

Name

Sample #

AK or MA?

Red

Divya

716

Maria

702

MA

Orange

Katie

712

Amelia

709

MA

Yellow

Jenny W

739

Karinna

664

AK

Green

Kevin

732

Steve

405

AK

Blue

Emmanuel

716

Sachin

702

MA

Pink

Alice

712

Helen

709

MA

Purple

Zeinab

739

Jenny V

664

AK

Grey/Platinum

Eric

732

Shanthi

405

AK

Bird sample background

(1) Chain of storage

"Fecal collections are done using a sterile swab into a sterile tube of viral transport
media, which contains a cocktail of antibiotics. The swab is swirled through the specimen,
inserted into the vial, and stored on ice in a cooler while the remaining collections for
that day are being done (usually takes about 2 hours all told back to the lab). Once at the
lab, the samples are immediately transferred to -80C until processing. In the case of
samples coming from Alaska (or any distant field site), the samples are moved directly from
-80C to a dry shipper (maintains the temp at -150C) for air transport, then placed directly
into a -80C when they arrive at our lab. Since all of these have been screened for avian
influenza, the samples were thawed on ice and an aliquote was removed to assess the presence
of AI. The sample is then refrozen at -80C."

(2) Locations

"These are all fecal samples, so they come from land near water. The Alaska samples are
collected off of the fishing docks in the town of Cordova, AK on the Pacific. If you wanted
to be more specific, I believe it's part of Prince William Sound. The MA samples are fecal
pickups from Revere Beach."

(3) Expected species

"The Alaska gulls are primarily glaucous winged gulls, the Revere gulls are primarily herring
gulls and ring billed gulls, with some greater black back gulls and the occasional bonaparte
gull."

(4) Differences between MA and AK pick-ups?

"Other than different people at different locations at different times, no difference at all.
The swabs, VTM, methods, etc are all the same."